Gazing at India
It has the highest mountain range in the world to its north — the Himalayas; to its west, the Thar desert, one of the hottest places on Earth, which occupies almost five percent of the landmass. Thick jungles and dense rainforest to its east covering almost twenty-one percent of its landmass and a seven-thousand kilometre long coastal line; with one-thousand plus inhabited islands within its waters. Not forgetting its billion and a half population, of which only thirty-five percent are squeezed into some of the world’s largest and most polluted cities. A point worth punctuating is that this ginormous population is one of the youngest in the world. This is India. Nestled amongst such massive numbers is a rich biodiversity which in some significant way still thrives. Seven percent of the world’s plants and fauna; and ten percent of the world’s species, with some of the rarest mammals on Earth only to be found here. Wetlands of Kerela, India Sprawling megacity: Mumbai India is both rich and poor. Some of her people are leading globally in science and tech, whilst others are illiterate. She is superbly well governed in parts, and crippled by corruption. She has one the most diverse societies on Earth living peacefully together over centuries, and yet today she is mired with ethnic and religious tensions of every kind. Her people are incredibly progressive and forward looking, while also wedged by out-dated customs of caste, tribe, and clan. She is one of the safest places on Earth, and yet, it can be unsafe for women to travel in some of its urban centres. Majority of her people are worshippers of nature and deeply connected to the land, while being one of the most polluted places on Earth. India has the world’s oldest unbroken civilisation, and it’s a young nation-state, still finding its feet when it comes to democracy. India — for every statistic, there is a counter statistic. For every generalisation, there is a counter one. India is VUCA with the biggest capital letters you can apply; it is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex (beyond imagination) and Ambiguous. In the United Kingdom, and I would argue in the West more generally, we struggle to make sense of India. India is in her ascent, no mistaking that. But that terminology will no longer do. India is comparable in so many ways to the West, and in some sense even surpasses us, yet we cannot be sure where she will plateau, if at all. Through what lens can we gaze at her to appreciate her richness, diversity, layered and complicated history, religious tapestry, and her aspirations and fears? We need a new framework to think about India. In short, India is too big to fail. India is too significant to be ignored. She is too present in our lives to think her challenges do not really affect us. A billion and half human beings, with one of the world’s most biodiverse landscape means that we cannot remain uninterested, disengaged, passive and neutral. We must engage equipped with a new lens: a new understanding coupled with a new intent. India needs us, as much as we need her. For India to reach the dizzying economic and political heights some people are forecasting, she will need the West, especially in the face of an ever autocratic, aggressive, and insecure CCP (Chinese Communist Party). India will need the West to buy her goods, use her services, invest in her start-ups, exchange technology, share intelligence, cooperate against international criminals, and rogue actors, protect and enforce international law, and to co-build a new international order. But, above all else, India will need the West, and vice versa, in building a Sustainable World — a truly circular economy, where technology enhances human flourishing, and consumption points towards the higher pleasures of humankind. Only when a country has sufficient capital base (and India is largely capital starved) and political stability can equality and liberty truly take root. I would argue that the West harbours the most tolerant and free democracies in the world, with a sizeable capital base to match, and from this India can take. At present, India has a dark cloud over her. There appears to be a rise in ethnic and religious conflict caused by a ethno-centric nationalist government at the helm led by its charismatic and enigmatic Prime minister Narendra Modi. Modi is portrayed as a Hindu zealot by many quarters in the West. Often these characterisations need contextualisation before critique. There is plenty of the latter and very little of the former. This is a problem because it only pushes India away from us, and leaves her diaspora alienated and insecure. Only when we really understand India, can we begin to challenge and be heard. Somewhat utopian? Sure. But we would be fools if we thought we had a choice in the matter. For the world to remain prosperous, we will, and we must, build a far stronger alliance with India in every sphere. An alliance that is built on three maxims: Maximise mutual benefit for all. Minimise harm and externalities for all. Act from a place of deep and time-tested trust. The third point is a tough ask, and one if taken on will take a decade or more to get right. To start with, we first need to understand. India is one country, one nation, but one that exists across several centuries. There is a twenty-first century India, where around two-hundred million Indians live. This is the India that aspires to go to the moon, and complete Mission Mars; aspires to innovate, digitise, and be a world leader in transformative healthcare. This is an India that understands the world and wants to be a progressive force in the world. It is truly liberal, democratic, and cultured. Their children travel around the world and are the highest achievers at every level. The worlds cadre of CEOs is also from this group who are all equipped with PhDs and MBAs from some
